A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I found this amongst my other Star Gazer goodies that I was sent last week and immediately my eyes went into a bit of a roll.

I can be a bit of a foundation snob.  Eyeshadows… I’ll buy and happily use from all price points… but foundation is the base of everything right?  If your base ain’t right… you ain’t coming in.

I have to say though, this Star Gazer Pro Paint Stick is pretty brilliant!  Don’t get wrong… there’s plenty of stuff about it that I don’t like.  For one, it kinda pongs… it smells chemically and cheap.  That’s probably because it is.

For two, the ingredient list is massive… there’s lots of unpronounceables in there.

And for three, well… it’s Star Gazer and not Chanel.  I’m gonna have to hide the packaging. SORRY!  But it’s true, this won’t be taking pride of place on my dressing table.

But snobbery aside; Stargazer Pro Paint Stick is a truly effective full coverage, creamy foundation.  In a stick.

It glides on without drag, #1 Light Flesh (sexy) is a great neutral colour match for me (don’t get this one if you’re darker than a NW/NC15 though) and blends seamlessly with the warmth from my fingers.

I’ve been working out the best way to use it, and for me… I’m loving it as a giant concealer stick.

I swipe the tube over the tops of my cheeks and down the bridge of my nose and blend.  It evens out my skintone beautifully and once set with some translucent powder, doesn’t want to budge.  It means that I can happily coat the rest of my face in tinted moisturiser and be all “la la la I’m wearing tinted moisturiser, isn’t my complexion LOVELY!”

I’ve worn it all over too, but I tend to be a little heavy handed and I get that full-cover slightly sticky mask thing going on.  Here’s a before/after shot.  You should be able to see how well the redness and uneveness is covered?

Priced at £4 each and available from Stargazer online, though the online colour swatches look a bit rubbish.

From the 1st June 2010, staff from Lush Cosmetics are embarking on a nationwide cycle journey that will encompass each and every Lush store in the UK.

They’re doing it in aid of the Change Your World campaign – a movement that encourages people to consider alternative, sustainable modes of transport for local journeys.  And this, is where the Cyclists Repair Kit comes in…

In conjunction with this journey, Lush has launched a limited edition Cyclists’ Repair Kit (£9.95) that contains six fresh handmade cosmetics to repair and rejuvenate tired cyclists.

Available throughout the month of June only, the kit contains a 10g sample tin of Lush’s NEW Ultrabalm, a sample sized Ultralight SPF 10 moisturiser; one 10g pot of Kings of the Mods styling gel to keep hair smooth under cycle helmets; one Aromaco deodorant with patchouli; one sample sized Handy Gurugu hand cream; and a Wiccy Magic Muscles cinnamon and mint massage bar to rub onto aching muscles to help dispel tension and possible inflammation.

I reckon it’d make a great little festival kit for the summer!

Talking of which, any of you ladies take part in the festival circuits?  I’ve never been to one!

Here’s another Eyeko I was sent recently…

…don’t like it (said in the style of Lou & Andy).

Eyeko’s Petite Polish (£3.50) is a pale girly pink, and there’s nothing wrong with that…. infact, the idea appeals and I’m not sure I have anything similar.  However, it just didn’t work that well for me.  It took 4 coats to achieve opacity (so probably great if you’re looking for a sheer!) and once finished it just looked kinda “thick” and not very feminine at all.

Is it supposed to be a sheer?  I dunno… I guess maybe it’s a French Manicure polish, in which case I’m being a bit harsh… but I want an opaque baby pink that looks all delicate, and this isn’t it.

Can anyone recommend some nice baby pinks that are all feminine and floaty and stuff?

So, I’ve had this pot of Eyeko Cream for a disgustingly unhygienic length of time, at least 18 months I reckon… and I still haven’t figured out how best to use it.

I mean, thanks to it’s shimmery-ness… it’s obviously best put to work as a highlighter, but the intricacies of application have so far failed me.

Mixed with my moisturiser?  Hallo disco features!

Dotted along my cheekbones and blended before foundation?  Holy huge pores!

Dotted along my cheekbones and blended AFTER foundation? Just, no.  Foundation seems to disagree with this product and the whole lot starts “balling up” under my fingers if I apply it ontop.

So you see, I love the shimmer, scent and creamy texture…. but I just can’t make it work for me.

Eyeko Cream is priced at a bargainous £6 and available online from their website.

I’m sure lots of you already have this… any tips ladies?

Stargazer are a budget brand that I’ve had some real success with in the past… infact, one of the first things I ever reviewed was a Stargazer cake eyeliner that I still enjoy using to this day.

I received a couple of their liquid eye liners to have a play with and initially… I was mega OVERLY excited.

Look! I thought they were gonna be huge chunky felt tip type liquid eye liners.  The idea really appealed to me in theory (in reality of course, great big sharpie-type liquid eyeliners would ensure I made even more of a mess than I usually do).

Anyway… this is how they look:

The ‘nib’ is a flexible nylony bristle type affair.  It holds together well and doesn’t splay or flop about during application.

It produces a substantially pigmented black line that’s thin enough to tightly line the lashline.  The above photo shows the line after I’d built it up to get the kinda thickness that I usually like.

I received two shades, black and blue.  Both are true to description… the black is pure with no charcoal ashiness.  The above swatch shows one swipe from each shade.  Impressive huh?  My only negative is that drying time was a little slower than I’m used to thanks to a wetter formula.  I’d estimate that it took around a minute before I felt comfortable enough to let my (hooded eyelid) droop back over my lashline.  However, once set… this stuff isn’t budging or transferring ’til makeup removal time.  It doesn’t flake and it doesn’t fade.  Phenomenal.

If you’re looking for a purse-friendly “does what it says on the tin” liquid eyeliner… I’d wholeheartedly recommend these from the Stargazer range.  They do a host of shades and I’m gonna check out the violet and red (though I could probably use an intervention… I’m not gonna use a freakin’ red eyeliner am I?).

You can buy Stargazer’s Liquid Eyeliners online or from New Look at the ridiculously good price of £3 each.

New for Summer, the already popular TreacleMoon lineup is expanding to include a new fragrance.

Lovely Mint Story promises to be a cool, refreshing mint fragrance that takes you back to minty mojitos and tropical times with its skin-tingling zing.

Me?  I just want something zingy to replace the tropical coconut-y phase that I’m currently going through!

Treaclemoon bath and shower gels are available exclusive to Tesco (larger stores only) and carry a very reasonable price tag of £2.89!

Have you checked out any of the other fragrances?

Woah… neon lip & face paint.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this when it popped through my letterbox courtesy of Models Own last week.

Once I had re-read the pot and realised that I could use it on my lips, I set straight to work!

I really didn’t expect very much from this product… languishing in the knowledge that in general, multi-use cosmetics are pretty cruddy, I was expecting to have a total fail of a product on my hands.

Not so.

This is smoooooooth and lends itself beautifully to a lip product.  I’m not gonna tell you if this works well on your face ‘cos I haven’t got a clue… I’m not a face painter and I have nothing to compare it to.  It’s one hell of a lip paint though.

Bright and true to it’s neon credentials, it applies more like a cream than a paint.  I think that’s what I was most impressed with… I really expected something quite dry and difficult to work with and got the opposite.

Combined with a flick of black liquid liner and not much else, Models Own Neon Pink Lip & Face Paint is a winner.  It dries matte on my lips and does leave them a touch drier which to be fair, I expected.  As with any matte lip product I’d make sure your lips were well exfoliated and possibly combine this with a slick of balm before applying.

I love how completley weightless the product feels on my lips, one thin layer gives great colour payoff and when it fades, it leaves a naturally bitten stain.

Priced at a bargainous £5, if only the other colours were more lip friendly!

I was starting to run out of things to spend my £5 No7 vouchers on when I spied these unassuming little tubes on the No7 counter.  I’m a total sucker for cream eyeshadows and when I swatched these, I knew I had to have them!

They’re a very light mousse formula and although the tubes are teeny tiny, a little goes a very long way.  I keep squeezing out too much!  Easy to apply and blend, I usually use my finger before running a brush over the edges just to make sure that they’re softened.

I bought them without doing any blog research and was concerned that they’d last approximately 5 seconds before creasing on me.  In general, I’m not a HUGE No7 makeup fan… there’s definitely some real stand outs from the line, but it’s not usually a brand I purchase from without doing a bit of research beforehand.

I have to say though, I made a good choice with these!  They last a decent 5/6 hours when used with no base before they begin to travel upwards… combine with a slick of UDPP and I can get about 7/8 hours wear out of them.  I haven’t tried setting them with a light dusting of complementary eyeshadow… but I think that would prolong wear even further.

Not too shabby really.

The colours are beautiful and what attracted me to them in the first place, there’s one more (a bronzey shade) that I like the look of aswell, but I’ll wait ’till the £5 off No7 till spit comes round again before adding it to my collection.

£8.75 each from Boots instore or online.

Have you tried these?

Now that Models Own have expanded into Boots stores nationwide, their legendary polishes are a whole lot easier to get your hands on!

The range is simply quite mind boggling, with a shade for every occassion.  They also sell other cosmetics including eye and lip products and I have a particularly lovely neon pink lip product to show you very soon!

I was sent this Models Own shade in Fuzzy Peach and it’s a touch more neon in real life than my photo shows… the colour is pretty spot on, but it’s a little more vibrant in person.  Application was….interesting.

First 2 coats were streaksville.  Worse than Eyeko’s streakiness…. I laid down the first coat… waited 10 minutes and despite feeling pretty dry to the touch, I got some crappy cuticle drag on the second coat.  Thankfully the third coat evened everything out enough for me to be satisfied with the finish but I made sure to top everything off with a quick dry top coat.

Put it this way, I was a bit disappointed with the formula.

However, there’s no denying it’s one helluva colour for summer!  Someone with a tan and warmer skin would knock ’em dead with this on their tips.

Models Own Fuzzy Peach is £5 and available online and instore at Boots.

I’d heard that Berry Ice Cream was a hard colour to track down, so I was really delighted to be able to waltz into my local Superdrug and whisk this and Mushroom off the shelves without any problems at all!  And I only paid a fiver for both!

Berry Ice Cream is a bright lilac pastel.  It’s not pastelly enough to be soft and floaty (if that makes sense!).  It has a bit o brightness to it that would endear it to most skintones.  Sometimes, lilacs can make darker skintones look kinda dead… zombie hands.  I can’t imagine you’d have the same issues with this one, it has enough punch to it!

Application was fair… 3 coats to cover any imperfections or patches from a small amount of cuticle drag.  Dried speedily and as with most BarryM shades I’ve tried, it has an impressive glossy finish.

Many people have issues with BarryM polishes chipping on them, but I never do… so although I can safely state that in 2 full days of wear I had no chipping, that doesn’t necessarily mean much.

If you’re looking for a colour to take you from Spring into Summer… this is a great choice.  However, I’m totally lagging in the ‘what’s hot’ stakes so this shade is probably already SO LAST SEASON.

Whatever bitches, I was rocking an Autumn colour last weekend… my fingers transcend fashion.

BarryM Nail polishes are still on a 2 for £5 offer in Superdrug, so get ’em while they’re hot! (or not).

As previously threatened, I went and picked up the new Bourjois Elastic Mascara yesterday. I ended up going to Superdrug to make the most of the £2 off promotion and ended up paying £6.99 for mine.

I know some of you think it’s daft.. but I kinda love the packaging! I have a billion mascaras, so being able to spot the one I want immediately is always useful. It does look a bit like a toilet brush holder though (well spotted Rhamnousia!)

The brush is one of those spikey bristle affairs… ideal for separation and lengthening, not so good for volume. The emphasis on the Bourjois Elastic Mascara is on lengthening, so I wasn’t surprised to see this brush design.

What I was surprised to see was the amount of product the wand picked up in those reservoirs. Too much. Combine this with quite a wet formula-ed mascara and I knew I was going to have issues with application before I’d even lifted the wand past my nose.

I was right. It actually reminded me a lot of the issues I had with the last Bourjois mascara I bought (1001 Lashes). Admitedly, 1001 Lashes has actually grown to become one of my favourites… but it took 3 months for the formula to dry out enough for me to fall in love.

I love the brush on this Bourjois Elastic mascara. It actually ‘grabs’ my lashes. I can feel the pull as I drag through from root to tip. It keeps hold of them like no other brush I’ve tried. So if that formula thickens up a bit after a couple of months, I could have an winning combination on my hands!

Having said that, once dried… it’s a slightly crusty mascara, this doesn’t really bother me – but I know some of you prefer more flexible and soft finishes. It doesn’t actually *look* crusty… but you can feel the crispiness going on!

The weird handle is actually another thing I love about the Bourjois Elastic Mascara. It makes me more ‘light handed’ with the wand and I find myself applying with fluttery light but sweeping strokes as opposed to my usual ham-fisted, poke yourself in the eye efforts.

Another cool thing about the handle is that you can ‘twizzle’ the wand whilst applying to get maximum coverage. Didn’t think about that did you?! Rolling the wand between my thumb and forefinger feels quite a natural action as I’m pulling the product through the lashes. Unfortunately, the action just encourages this damn formula to clump… I’m still clinging to the hope that with a bit of age, the formula transforms into something amazing.

Definitely lengthening… not volumising or even very defining (I’m blaming the formula).

I’m on the fence with this one.

Something I’m not on the fence about?

This promo image:

Seriously? Just. Sod. Off.

Bourjois, you may be my favourite high street brand… but you hands down win the sucky Photoshop bs eyelash promo image award.

EDITED TO ADD:

The above promotional image shouldn’t be on the website under Elastic Mascara apparently, some kinda mistake as it’s a few years old.. here’s the correct model image!:

One word sums this Eyeko Coral polish up… SUMMER!

No wait, I’ve got another one.  Longevity.  6 days, no chipping and minimal tip wear.

Application is ok… it’s the same as all the other Eyeko polishes, on the thick and gloopy side but not unworkable with a fairly slow drying time.  Top coat recommended.

The colour is lovely though, on my short nails it really ‘pops’ and makes my fingertips look like sweeties!  Or maybe I’m just hungry.

Either way, I like this one lots!  The new formulation is definitely an approvement on the old version.

£3.50 from Eyeko online with free UK delivery and cheap international shipping.